The health risk of adding condiments - Emily Skye

The health risk of adding condiments

It can happen automatically, our dinner is placed in front of us and before we even try our food, we are automatically reaching for the salt and/ or the sauce. It is not that surprising, it is almost as though it is a ritualistic part of the meal eating process. It is something we have seen on TV shows, in movies and often also learnt from our parents of family members.

But the truth is, most foods these days already contain ample amounts of salt and the added sodium and sugar found in sauces just isn’t necessary.

Did you know that the average Aussie consumes 9 times more salt than the recommended daily intake? Even though we need a little salt in our diet, excess salt can lead to high blood pressure, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. An instant side effect of consuming too much salt can be dehydration and water retention - Yukky!

Did you know that most sauces (e.g. tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, Sweet chilli sauce) contain up to 1/3 sugar? So each time you add sauce to your meal you are basically slathering it with processed sugars, not to mention the large amounts of salt they often contain.

It can also be a little offensive to automatically reach for flavour enhances when someone has gone to the effort of creating the dish for you. So next time you sit down for a meal, why not try your food first, before you reach for the shaker? You might be surprised to discover it tastes delicious just the way it is!